United International Pictures: Difference between revisions

'''United International Pictures''' ('''UIP''') is a joint venture of [[Paramount Pictures]] and [[Universal Pictures]] that was founded to distribute some of the two studio's films theatrically outside the United States (including territories), Canada and the Caribbean Basin. It also had rights to distribute films from [[DreamWorks Pictures]] (which had international releases handled by UIP through Universal from 1997-2005 and later would be owned by Viacom from 2005-08) and independent filmmakers. The company was formed in 1981 after [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios|MGM]] purchased [[United Artists|UA]] and merged its international distribution and sales arm with what was then called "[[Cinema International Corporation]]", who once had a video division, [[Cinema International Corporation Video|CIC Video]]; with releases after November 1 that year falling under the UIP banner. However, UIP did not begin using a logo until the year after it was formed in 1982. [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]]/[[Buena Vista International]] continued their distribution deals with UIP (Paramount) in Italy until 1991 (when it began using [[Sony Pictures Releasing International|Columbia Tri-Star]] as an Italian outlet for its titles), Australia through [[20th Century Studios|20th Century Fox]] until 1986 (when it switched to [[Roadshow Films|Roadshow]]) and in such nations as Turkey and Brazil. BVI also distributed UIP releases in Finland until 2006 when [[Finnkino]] took over distribution from BVI in that region. UIP also co-financed and distributed Denzel Washington's 1989 film, ''For Queen and Country'', with [[The Rank Organisation|Rank]], and in the late 80s, UIP also formed the organization which would later become [[UCI Cinemas]] together with [[United Artists Theaters]] and [[AMC Theatres]]. When DreamWorks Pictures was founded in 1994 that studio was added to UIP's release slate, due to its distribution arrangement with Universal, and when [[Orion Pictures]] was purchased by MGM in 1997, it was also added to UIP's distribution slate (most Orion titles were distributed by other companies such as Rank and [[Svensk Filmindustri]] at that time; because of this the only title UIP released from Orion was ''Storefront Hitchcock'', released in 1998).